Lyric Poem · Nature
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: The Argument
3Once meek, and in a perilous path
4The just man kept his course along
5The Vale of Death.
6Roses are planted where thorns grow,
7And on the barren heath
8Sing the honey bees.
9Then the perilous path was planted,
10And a river and a spring
11On every cliff and tomb;
12And on the bleached bones
13Red clay brought forth:
14Till the villain left the paths of ease
15To walk in perilous paths, and drive
16The just man into barren climes.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: The Argument” by William Blake — quilloak.com/poems/the-marriage-of-heaven-and-hell-the-argument
Quick facts
- Poem
- The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: The Argument
- Poet
- William Blake
- Length
- 22 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Death & Loss, Spring
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 22 lines · 5 stanzas of 2–8 lines
- Refrains
- “Rintrah roars and shakes his fires in the burden'd air,”“Hungry clouds swag on the deep.”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- William Blake1757–1827
- Source record
- PoetryDBThe Marriage of Heaven and Hell: The Argument by william-blake, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 2fe22a8048a3fc96…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.